Implementation of the Brazilian National Policy for Waste Management

Abstract In Brazil there has been great difficulty in politically and administratively integrating the different levels of government that are formulating and implementing these policies, especially in regard to the relationships between the government bodies formulating guidelines at the national level and those at the local level. According to current legislation, the municipalities are responsible for the management of urban solid waste (USW) and urban sanitation. Federal Law 12,305/2010, establishes the Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS), and establishes principles and objectives for the country, but these activities are to be implemented at the municipal level. Are these municipalities capable of fulfilling this task? This article proposes a methodology based on gap analysis using data from the National Sanitation Information System (Snis) to identify the extent to which PNRS has been implemented in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area (RJMA). The results show an increase in the universality of the service in RJMA municipalities, but most of the PNRS objectives have been ignored and there are no local policy guidelines to be put in place and monitored. In addition to this, we have found that there has been poor implementation of the federal law. By interpreting this finding through the theoretical framework of institutionalism, our conclusions raise new questions and identify possible paths for future research.